In Taiwan Utility Model Patent No. 97876 (Application No. 82212443) granted to the inventor, there is disclosed a warmer and refrigerator for use on automobiles that includes a cabinet basically made of insulating material. As shown in FIG. 1, the cabinet defines an inner space, a middle partition which dividing the inner space into two smaller spaces for separately forming a warmer and a refrigerator, and two top covers for separately closing the warmer and the refrigerator. The cabinet and the top covers may be finished with decorative materials, such as grained veneer, to create visual beauty and good texture. The warmer includes a hot chamber formed from thermal conductive metal material to accommodate a first inner container that is surrounded by a first hollow annular water storage. A water inlet pipe and a water outlet pipe extend from the first water storage to the cooling water circulating pipe system of the engine radiator of the automobile, so that cooling water passing by and heated by the engine is guided into or out the first water storage to warm up the first inner container. The refrigerator includes a cold chamber also formed from thermal conductive metal material to accommodate a second inner container that is surrounded by a second hollow annular water storage. A condensing pipe is spirally wound about the second inner container. A coolant inlet pipe and a coolant outlet pipe extend from the second water storage to the coolant pipe of the air-conditioning system of the automobile, so that cooling effect obtained from the phase change of the coolant in the coolant pipe can be extended into the condensing pipe wound about the second water storage to refrigerating the second inner container.
In brief, the above-described structure includes a warmer which has a hot chamber using hot water from an engine radiator of an automobile to keep an interior of the hot chamber at a suitable high temperature and a refrigerator which has a cold chamber being wound by extended coolant pipe of the air-conditioning system of the automobile to keep an interior of the cold chamber at a suitable low temperature. Whereby, food, drink, towels, etc. can be stored in the warmer or the refrigerator on the automobile for use by a driver and passengers on the automobile at any time while travelling.
Following drawbacks are found in the warmer and refrigerator for use on automobiles disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 97876 and require improvement:
1. The warmer and the refrigerator are basically two spaces in an insulating cabinet separated from one another by a middle partition to each contain an inner container. To wind pipes about the inner containers for heating or refrigerating purpose, it is necessary to reduce usable spaces in the inner containers. Thus, only limit amount of cold or hot foods, drinks, or towels can be stored in the warmer or the refrigerator. That is, the warmer and the refrigerator disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 97876 actually provide only very small usable storage rooms.
2. The water inlet and outlet pipes and the coolant inlet and outlet pipes are wound about inner containers of the hot chamber and the cold chamber, respectively, to form discrete single-pipe spiral passages. After these single-pipe spiral passages are formed around the inner containers, they are further connected to the air-conditioning system and the engine radiator via other pipelines. That is, total two times of pipe winding and connection are required in each cabinet holding the warmer and the refrigerator. In addition to the time and high cost for winding and connecting the pipes, other disadvantages, such as inconvenience in manufacture, too much space occupied by the pipes, and higher material cost for the pipes, are also found in the disclosure of Taiwan Patent No. 97876.
3. It is very possible that only the warmer or the refrigerator in the cabinet is utilized in different seasons or occasions. For example, the warmer is more frequently used in winter while the refrigerator in summer. The unutilized warmer or refrigerator is apparently an unnecessary waste in terms of energy saving. Moreover, there are not any water circulating control means provided on the pipelines. Water or coolant keeps flowing through the spiral pipeline of the unutilized warmer or the refrigerator and forms another waste of energy.